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Name: WO1 Timothy Harold Artman (posthumously promoted) Status: Killed In Action from an incident on 01/08/1968 while performing the duty of Aircraft Commander. Age at death: 23.4 Date of Birth: 08/13/1944 Home City: Hialeah, FL Service: AV branch of the reserve component of the U.S. Army. Unit: 173 AHC Major organization: other Flight class: 66-21 Service: AV branch of the U.S. Army. The Wall location: 33E-078 Short Summary: Died from wounds received when his aircraft was hit by an RPG. Aircraft: UH-1D tail number 65-09866 Call sign: Robin Hood Service number: W3154973 Country: South Vietnam MOS: 062B = Helicopter Pilot, Utility and Light Cargo Single Rotor Primary cause: Hostile Fire Major attributing cause: aircraft connected not at sea Compliment cause: weapons Vehicle involved: helicopter Position in vehicle: aircraft commander Started Tour: 02/10/1967 "Official" listing: helicopter air casualty - other aircrew Length of service: 02 Location: Long An Province III Corps.

Additional information about this casualty: Died in Gary Wetzel's arms

Reason: aircraft lost or crashed Casualty type: Hostile - died while missing married male U.S. citizen Race: Caucasian Religion: Protestant - no denominational preference The following information secondary, but may help in explaining this incident. Category of casualty as defined by the Army: battle dead Category of personnel: active duty Army Military class: warrant officer This record was last updated on 07/25/1998

Information on U.S. Army helicopter UH-1D tail number 65-09866 The Army purchased this helicopter 0566 Total flight hours at this point: 00000847 Date: 01/08/1968 Incident number: 68010873.KIA Unit: 173 AHC This was a Combat incident. This helicopter was LOSS TO INVENTORY for Air/land Assault , Hot Area. While on Landing Zone this helicopter was Landing at 0005 feet and 000 knots. South Vietnam Helicopter took 9 hits from: Explosive Weapon; Non-Artillery launched or static weapons containing explosive charges. (ROCKET, 7.62MM) The helicopter was hit in the Left Side causing Fragmentation Damage. Systems damaged were: FLT CONTROLS, PERSONNEL, STRUCTURE, ELECTRICAL SYS, FUEL SYS The effectiveness of the armor protecting the personnel was unknown or not reported. Casualties = 06 WIA . . The helicopter Crashed. Aircraft Destroyed. Both mission and flight capability were terminated. Original source(s) and document(s) from which the incident was created or updated: Defense Intelligence Agency Helicopter Loss database. Survivability/Vulnerability Information Analysis Center Helicopter database. Also: OPERA, LNNF, CRAFX, FM232, DYNAL (Operations Report. Lindenmuth New Format Data Base. Crash Facts Message. ) Summary: While landing in an LZ during an Eagle Flight, this Huey was shot down. The gunner, Gary Wetzel, would earn the Medal of Honor.Loss to Inventory

War Story: During an Eagle Flight, this aircraft was in the fourth position for the first element into an LZ and was hit by automatic weapons fire. At about 50 feet from touchdown an RPG blew out the left front of the aircraft knocking out CPT Dismukes and mortally wounding the AC, WO Artman. PFC Wetzel, the gunner, and SP4 Jarvis, the CE, were thrown from the aircraft when it crashed. When they returned to try to help the pilots, another RPG hit the aircraft wounding Wetzel. They did get the pilots out of the wreck but WO Artman died from his wounds. On January 8, 1968 we were doing Eagle flights supporting the 9th Infantry Division. ( I don't remember the unit) We were sitting on the ground at a place called the French Fort eating C's when we got the order to crank 'em up. We loaded up the slicks and flew to the LZ. As we were about 1 minute out of the LZ, and flying in a heavy right formation we received orders to go in heavy left. Gary Wetzel's ship, piloted by WO Timothy Artman switched places with mine. He ended up the trail ship on the left and my ship piloted by a Japanese CWO was the trail ship on the right. I had taken sporadic fire before but was totally unprepared for the amount of fire we received flying into the LZ. I saw so many big orange fireballs flying through the air as we flew into the LZ that I really had no idea what was going on. I knew that we were in big trouble because there was a lot of excited radio traffic flying in. I could not fire as I was on the inside of the formation and ended up being an observer. As we came into the LZ Gary's ship was hit in the AC's door with an RPG about 4 feet off the deck. They went in immediately and as soon as they hit I saw two more explosions inside the ship and troops came flying out. As we sat down to insert our troops, I said to my AC "I have my aid bag, I'm gonna go help." The AC replied "If you step on foot outside this ship I'll shoot your ass. You're here to protect this ship. We flew out of the LZ leaving two ships in the LZ and another, carrying Jimmy Banicki, was hit flying out and set down somewhere outside the LZ. The rest is, as they say, history. Tim Artman was critically wounded and died in the LZ later that night. Gary was awarded the DFC the next day in the hospital and subsequently was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. We figured out later that the Artillery and air strikes had prepped the wrong side of the river and left for us a horseshoe shaped ambush with 3..50 caliber machine guns, more RPG's than we could count, and shitloads of small arms fire. I didn't see Gary for 18 years. In July of 1986 I had the opportunity to travel to Chicago for the Welcome home parade and weekend and finally had an opportunity to sit down and talk with Gary. I had felt and still feel guilty that I didn't just grab my aid bag and run to help him, but Gary said to me "The AC was right and you did as you should have." Doc/Bac Si' Don Reynolds, Sep 97